Airmen begin hurricane-hunting season.

  • Published
  • By Donna Miles
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  "Hurricane Hunters" from the Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron completed their final mission tracking Hurricane Alex late Aug. 3, but are already on the trail of a tropical storm in the Lesser Antilles.

Meanwhile, people from the North Carolina National Guard's 690th Maintenance Battalion are providing emergency resupply and evacuation support along the state's Outer Banks, the area hardest-hit by Hurricane Alex

Six-person crews from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron began their first mission of the season July 31, at the request of the National Weather Service, according to Air Force Tech. Sgt. James Pritchett, a spokesman for the 403rd Wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. At the time, Alex was still a tropical depression east of the Bahamas.

Sergeant Pritchett said the squadron flew its C-130 Hercules aircraft nearly around-the-clock out of Homestead Air Reserve Base, Fla., launching every six hours for missions that typically lasted eight to 12 hours.

"When one plane came back, another one was going out," Sergeant Pritchett said.

Lt. Col. John Talbot, a weather officer for the squadron, said the initial mission for Hurricane Alex was a "low-level invest," flown about 1,000 feet above the ocean's surface. At the height of the storm, Colonel Talbot said the crews encountered winds averaging just more than 100 mph.

During the missions, the aircraft crisscross the hurricane in what Colonel Talbot called an "alpha pattern," using onboard instruments and small "dropsonde" canisters dropped by parachute to provide the most accurate measurements of the storm's location and intensity. The canisters relay details about barometric pressure, wind speed and direction and other measurements to the aircraft during their descent until they hit the water, the colonel said.

The aircrews consist of an aircraft commander and co-pilot, flight engineer, navigator, weather officer and dropsonde operator. They fly through rough turbulence and heavy rains during the missions, Colonel Talbot said. The heaviest turbulence occurs in the "eye wall," the circular area directly around the hurricane's eye, he explained.

After checking the data collected, the crews forward it directly to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Meanwhile, the "Hurricane Hunters" are already focused on their second weather system of the season, over the Lesser Antilles. Colonel Talbot said squadron Airmen typically devote about 1,100 flying hours tracking weather systems between June and November.

"We'll be busy now through September," he said.